This reading of Heaven, a World of Love by Jonathan Edwards is from the Free Grace Broadcaster magazine, issue 181, and is produced by Stillwater's Revival Books. Part 1 Love never faileth. But whether there be prophecies, they shall fail. Whether there be tongues, they shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 1 Corinthians 13 8-10 The Apostle speaks, in the text, of a state of the Church when it is perfect in heaven, and therefore a state in which the Holy Spirit shall be more perfectly and abundantly given to the Church than it is now on earth. But the way in which it shall be given, when it is so abundantly poured forth, will be in that great fruit of the Spirit, holy and divine love, in the hearts of all the blessed inhabitants of that world. so that the heavenly state of the Church is a state that is distinguished from its earthly state, as it is that state which God has designed especially for such a communication of His Holy Spirit, and in which it shall be given perfectly, whereas in the present state of the Church it is given with great imperfection. and it is also a state in which this holy love shall be, as it were, the only gift or fruit of the Spirit, as being the most perfect and glorious of all, and which, being brought to perfection, renders all other gifts that God was wont to bestow on His Church on earth needless. and that we may better see how heaven is thus a world of holy love, I would consider, one, the cause and fountain of love in heaven. Here I remark that the God of love himself dwells in heaven. Heaven is the palace or presence chamber of the High and Holy One, whose name is Love, and who is both the cause and source of all holy love. God, considered with respect to His essence, is everywhere. He fills both heaven and earth. but yet he is said, in some respects, to be more especially in some places than in others. He was said of old to dwell in the land of Israel above all other lands, and in Jerusalem above all other cities of that land, and in the temple above all other buildings in the city. and in the Holy of Holies above all other apartments of the temple, and on the mercy seat over the Ark of the Covenant above all other places in the Holy of Holies. But heaven is his dwelling-place above all other places in the universe, and all those places in which he was said to dwell of old were but types of this. Heaven is a part of creation that God has built for this end, to be the place of His glorious presence, and it is His abode forever, and here He will dwell and gloriously manifest Himself to all eternity. And this renders heaven a world of love, for God is the fountain of love, as the sun is the fountain of light. and, therefore, the glorious presence of God in heaven fills heaven with love, as the sun, placed in the midst of the visible heavens in a clear day, fills the world with light. The apostle tells us that God is love and therefore, seeing he is an infinite being, it follows that he is an infinite fountain of love. Seeing he is an all-sufficient being, it follows that he is a full and overflowing and inexhaustible fountain of love. and in that he is an unchangeable and eternal being, he is an unchangeable and eternal fountain of love. There, even in heaven, dwells the God from whom every stream of holy love, yea, every drop that is, or ever was, proceeds. There dwells God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, united as one in infinitely dear and incomprehensible and mutual and eternal love. There dwells God the Father, who is the Father of mercies, and so the Father of love, who so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son to die for it. There dwells Christ, the Lamb of God, the Prince of Peace and of Love, who so loved the world that he shed his blood and poured out his soul unto debt for men. There dwells the Great Mediator, through whom all the divine love is expressed towards men, and by whom the fruits of that love have been purchased, and through whom they are communicated, and through whom love is imparted to the hearts of all God's people. And there dwells Christ in both His natures, the human and the divine, sitting on the same throne with the Father. And there dwells the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of divine love, in whom the very essence of God, as it were, flows out, and is breeded forth in love. and by whose immediate influence all holy love is shed abroad in the hearts of all the saints on earth and in heaven. There, in heaven, this infinite fountain of love, this eternal three-in-one, is set open without any obstacle to hinder access to it as it flows forever. And there this glorious God is manifested, and shines forth in full glory in beams of love. And there this glorious fountain forever flows forth in streams, yea, in rivers of love and delight. And these rivers swell, as it were, to a notion of love, in which the souls of the ransomed may bade with the sweetest enjoyment, and their hearts, as it were, be deluged with love. Again, I would consider heaven with regard, too, to the objects of love that it contains. And here I would observe three things. 1. There are none but lovely objects in heaven. No odious or unlovely or polluted person or thing is to be seen there. 2. There is nothing there that is wicked or unholy. There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defile it, neither whatsoever work it abomination. Revelation 21.27 And there is nothing that is deformed with any natural or moral deformity, but everything is beauteous to behold, and amiable, and excellent in itself. God that dwells and gloriously manifests Himself there is infinitely lovely, gloriously lovely as a heavenly Father, as a divine Redeemer and as a holy Sanctifier. All the persons that belong to the blessed Society of Heaven are lovely. The Father of the family is lovely, and so are all His children. the head of the body lovely, and so are all the members. Among the angels there are none that are unlovely, for they are all holy. And no evil angels are suffered to infest heaven as they do this world, but are kept forever at a distance by that great gulf which is between them and the glorious world of love. and among all the company of the saints there are no unlovely persons. There are no false professors or hypocrites there, none that pretend to be saints and yet are of an unchristian and hateful spirit or behaviour, as is often the case in this world. none whose gold has not been purified from its dross, none who are not lovely in themselves and to others. There is no one object there to give offense, or at any time to give occasion for any passion or emotion of hatred or dislike, but every object there shall forever draw forth love. And not only shall all objects in heaven be lovely, but, too, they shall be perfectly lovely. There are many things in this world that in the general are lovely, but yet are not perfectly free from that which is the contrary. There are spots on the sun, and so there are many men that are most amiable and worthy to be loved, who yet are not without some things that are disagreeable and unlovely. Often there is in good men some defect of temper or character or conduct that mars the excellence of what otherwise would seem most amiable. and even the very best of men are on earth imperfect, but it is not so in heaven. There shall be no pollution or deformity or unamiable defect of any kind seen in any person or thing, but everyone shall be perfectly pure and perfectly lovely in heaven. that blessed world shall be perfectly bright, without any darkness, perfectly fair, without any spot, perfectly clear, without any cloud. No moral or natural defect shall ever enter there, and there nothing will be seen that is sinful or weak or foolish. nothing the nature or aspect of which is coarse or displeasing, or that can offend the most refined taste or the most delicate eye. No string shall dare vibrate out of tune, to cause any jar in the harmony of the music of heaven. and no note be such as to make discord in the anthems of saints and angels. The great God, who so fully manifests Himself there, is perfect with an absolute and infinite perfection. The Son of God, who is the brightness of the Father's glory, appears there in the fullness of His glory, without that garb of outward meanness in which He appeared in this world. The Holy Ghost shall there be poured forth with perfect richness and sweetness, as a pure river of the water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. And every member of that holy and blessed society shall be without any stain of sin, or imperfection, or weakness, or imprudence, or blemish of any kind. The whole Church, ransomed and purified, shall dare be presented to Christ as a bride, clothed in fine linen, clean and white, without any spot or wrinkle or any such thing. In heaven there shall be all those objects that the saints have set their hearts upon, and which they have loved above all things while in this world. There they will find those things that appeared most lovely to them while they dwelt on earth. the things that met the approbation of their judgments, and captivated their affections, and drew away their souls from the most dear and pleasant of earthly objects. There they will find those things that wear their delight here below. and on which they rejoiced to meditate, and with the sweet contemplation of which their minds were often entertained. And there, too, the things which they chose for their portion, and which were so dear to them, that they were ready for the sake of them to undergo the severest sufferings, and to forsake even father, and mother, and kindred, and friends, and wife, and children, and life itself. All the truly great and good, all the pure and holy and excellent from this world, and it may be from every part of the universe, are constantly tending towards heaven. as the streams tend to the ocean, so all these are tending to the great ocean of infinite purity and bliss. The progress of time does but bear them on to its blessedness, and us, if we are holy, to be united to them there. Every gem which debt rudely tears away from us here is a glorious jewel forever shining there. Every Christian friend that goes before us from this world is a ransomed spirit waiting to welcome us in heaven. There will be the infant of days that we have lost below, true grace to be found above. there the Christian Father and Mother and Wife and Child and Friend, with whom we shall renew the Holy Fellowship of the Saints, which was interrupted by debt here, but shall be commenced again in the Upper Sanctuary, and then shall never end. There we shall have company with the patriarchs and fathers and saints of the Old and New Testaments, and those of whom the world was not worthy, with whom on earth we were only conversant by fate. And there, above all, we shall enjoy and dwell with God the Father, whom we have loved with all our hearts on earth, and with Jesus Christ, our beloved Saviour, who has always been to us the Chief among ten thousands, and altogether lovely, and with the Holy Ghost, our sanctifier and guide and comforter, and shall be filled with all the fullness of the Godhead for ever. And such being the objects of love in heaven, I pass three to its subjects, and these are the hearts in which it dwells. In every heart in heaven, love dwells and reigns. The heart of God is the original seat or subject of love. Divine love is in Him, not as in a subject that receives it from another, but as in its original seat, where it is of itself. The love of God the Father flows out towards Christ the Head, and to all the members through Him, in whom they were beloved before the foundation of the world. and in whom the Father's love was expressed towards them in time, by his debt and sufferings, as it now is fully manifested in heaven. And the saints and angels are secondarily the subjects of holy love, not as those in whom it is as in an original seat, as light is in the sun, but as it is in the planets that shine only by reflected light. And the light of their love is reflected in the first place, and chiefly back to its great source. As God has given the saints and angels love, So their love is chiefly exercised towards God, its fountain, as is most reasonable. They all love God with a supreme love. There is no enemy of God in heaven. But all, as his children, love him as their father. They are all united with one mind, to breed forth their whole souls in love to God, their Eternal Father, and to Jesus Christ, their common Redeemer, and Head, and Friend. Christ loves all His saints in heaven. His love flows out to his whole church there, and to every individual member of it. And they all, with one heart and one soul, unite in love to their common Redeemer. Every heart is wedded to this holy and spiritual husband, and all rejoice in him while the angels join them in their love, and the angels and saints all love each other. All the members of the glorious Society of Heaven are sincerely united. There is not a single secret or open enemy among them all. Not a heart is there that is not full of love, and not a solitary inhabitant that is not beloved by all the others. And as all are lovely, so all see each other's loveliness with full complacence and delight. Every soul goes out in love to every other, and among all the blessed inhabitants love is mutual and full and eternal. I pass next to speak four of the principle of love in heaven. And by this I mean the love itself that fills and blesses the heavenly world, and which may be noticed both as to its nature and degree. And 1. As to its nature. In its nature, this love is altogether holy and divine. Most of the love that there is in this world is of an unhallowed nature. But the love that has its place in heaven is not carnal but spiritual. It does not proceed from corrupt principles or selfish motives, nor is it directed to mean and vile purposes and ends. As opposed to all this, it is a pure flame, directed by holy motives and aiming at no ends inconsistent with God's glory and the happiness of the universe. The saints in heaven love God for his own sake, and each other for God's sake, and for the sake of the relation that they have to him, and the image of God that is upon them. All their love is pure and holy. We may notice this love also, too, as to its degree, and in degree it is perfect. The love that dwells in the heart of God is perfect, with an absolutely infinite and divine perfection. The love of angels and saints to God and Christ is perfect in its kind, or with such a perfection as is proper to their nature. It is perfect with a sinless perfection, and perfect in that it is commensurate to the capacities of their nature. So it is said in the text that when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away. Their love shall be without any remains of any contrary principle, having no pride or selfishness to interrupt it or hinder its exercises. Their hearts shall be full of love. That which was in the heart on earth as but a grain of mustard seed shall be as a great tree in heaven. The soul that in this world had only a little spark of divine love in it, in heaven shall be, as it were, turned into a bright and ardent flame, like the sun in its fullest brightness when it has no spot upon it. In heaven there shall be no remaining enmity or distaste or coldness or deadness of heart towards God and Christ. Not the least remainder of any principle of envy shall exist to be exercised towards angels or other beings who are superior in glory. Nor shall there be aught like contempt or slighting of those who are inferiors. those that have a lower station in glory than others, suffer no diminution of their own happiness by seeing others above them in glory. On the contrary, all the members of that blessed society rejoice in each other's happiness, for the love of benevolence is perfect in them all. Everyone has not only a sincere but a perfect goodwill to every other. Sincere and strong love is greatly gratified and delighted in the prosperity of the beloved object. And if the love be perfect, the greater the prosperity of the beloved is, the more is the lover pleased and delighted. for the prosperity of the Beloved is, as it were, the food of love, and therefore the greater that prosperity, the more richly is love feasted. The love of benevolence is delighted in beholding the prosperity of another, as the love of complacence is in beholding the beauty or perfection of another. so that the superior prosperity of those that are higher in glory is so far from being a hindrance to the degree of love felt towards them that it is an addition to it or a part of it. There is undoubtedly and inconceivably pure, sweet, and fervent love between the saints in glory. And that love is in proportion to the perfection and amiableness of the object's beloved, and therefore it must necessarily cause delight in them when they see that the happiness and glory of others are in proportion to their amiableness, and so in proportion to their love to them. Those that are highest in glory are those that are highest in holiness, and therefore are those that are most beloved by all the saints. For they most love those that are most holy, and so they will all rejoice in their being the most happy. And it will not be a grief to any of the saints to see those that are higher than themselves in holiness and likeness to God more loved also than themselves. For all shall have as much love as they desire, and as great manifestations of love as they can bear, and so all shall be fully satisfied. And where there is perfect satisfaction, there can be no reason for envy. and there will be no temptation for any to envy those that are above them in glory, on account of the latter being lifted up with pride, for there will be no pride in heaven. We are not to conceive that those who are more holy and happy than others in heaven will be elated and lifted up in their spirit above others. for those who are above others in holiness will be superior to them in humility. The saints that are highest in glory will be the lowest in humbleness of mind, for their superior humility is part of their superior holiness. Though all are perfectly free from pride, Yet, as some will have greater degrees of divine knowledge than others, and larger capacities to see more of the divine perfections, so they will see more of their own comparative littleness and nothingness, and therefore will be lowest and most abased in humility. And, besides, the inferior in glory will have no temptation to envy those that are higher than themselves. For those that are highest will not only be more loved by the lower for their higher holiness, but they will also have more of the spirit of love to others, and so will love those that are below them more than if their own capacity and elevation were less. Day that are highest in degree of glory will be of the highest capacity, and so, having the greatest knowledge, will see most of God's loveliness, and consequently will have love to God and love to the saints most abounding in their hearts. And on this account, those that are lower in glory will not envy those that are above them, because they will be most beloved by those that are highest in glory. And the superior in glory will be so far from slighting those that are inferior, that they will have most abundant love to them. greater degrees of love in proportion to their superior knowledge and happiness. The higher they are in glory, the more they are like Christ in disrespect, so that the love of the higher to the lower will be greater than the love of the equals of the latter to them. And what puts it beyond all doubt that seeing the superior happiness of others will not be a damp to the happiness of the inferior is this, that their superior happiness consists in their greater humility and in their greater love to them and to God and to Christ than the inferior will have in themselves. Such will be the sweet and perfect harmony among the heavenly saints, and such the perfect love reigning in every heart towards every other, without limit, or ally, or interruption. And no envy, or malice, or revenge, or contempt, or selfishness shall ever enter there. but all such feelings shall be kept as far away as sin is from holiness and as hell is from heaven. Let us next consider five, the excellent circumstances in which love shall be exercised and blessed and enjoyed in heaven. And one, Love in heaven is always mutual. It is always met with answerable returns of love, with returns that are proportioned to its exercise. Such returns love always seeks, and just in proportion as any person is beloved, in the same proportion is his love desired and prized. And in heaven, this desire of love, or this fondness for being loved, will never fail of being satisfied. No inhabitants of that blessed world will ever be grieved with the thought that they are slighted by those that they love, or that their love is not fully and fondly returned. as the saints will love God with an inconceivable ardency of heart, and to the utmost of their capacity. So they will know that He has loved them from all eternity, and still loves them, and will continue to love them forever. And God will then gloriously manifest Himself to them. and they shall know that all that happiness and glory which they are possessed of are the fruits of his love. And with the same ardour and fervency will the saints love the Lord Jesus Christ, and their love will be accepted, and they shall know that he has loved them with a fateful year even with a dying love. They shall then be more sensible than now they are. What great love is manifested in Christ that He should lay down His life for them? And then will Christ open to their view the great fountain of love in His heart for them, beyond all that they ever saw before. Hereby the love of the saints to God and Christ is seen to be reciprocated, and that declaration fulfilled, I love them that love me. And though the love of God to them cannot properly be called the return of love, because he loved them first, yet the sight of his love will, on that very account, the more fill them with joy and admiration and love to him. 2. The joy of heavenly love shall never be interrupted or damped by jealousy. Heavenly lovers will have no doubt of the love of each other. They shall have no fear that the declarations and professions of love are hypocritical, but shall be perfectly satisfied of the sincerity and strength of each other's affection, as much as if there were a window in every breast, so that everything in the heart could be seen. There shall be no such thing as flattery or dissimulation in heaven. but there perfect sincerity shall reign through all and in all. Everyone will be just what he seems to be, and will really have all the love that he seems to have. It will not be as in this world, where comparatively few things are what they seem to be, and where professions are often made lightly and without meaning. But there every expression of love shall come from the bottom of the heart, and all that is professed shall be really and truly felt. The saints shall know that God loves them, and they shall never doubt the greatness of his love, and they shall have no doubt of the love of all their fellow inhabitants in heaven. And they shall not be jealous of the constancy of each other's love. They shall have no suspicion that the love which others have felt towards them is abated, or in any degree withdrawn from themselves, for the sake of some rival. or by reason of anything in themselves which they suspect is disagreeable to others, or to any inconstancy in their own hearts or the hearts of others. Nor will they be in the least afraid that the love of any will ever be abated towards them. There shall be no such a thing as inconstancy and unfaithfulness in heaven, to molest and disturb the friendship of that blessed society. The saints shall have no fear that the love of God will ever abate towards them, or that Christ will not continue always to love them with unabated tenderness and affection. And they shall have no jealousy one of another, but shall know that by divine grace the mutual love that exists between them shall never decay nor change. Three. There shall be nothing within themselves to clog or hinder the saints in heaven in the exercises and expressions of love. In this world the saints find much to hinder them in this respect. They have a great deal of dullness and heaviness. They carry about with them a heavy moulded body, a clod of earth, a mass of flesh and blood that is not fitted to be the organ for a soul inflamed with high exercises of divine love. but which is found a great clog and hindrance to the spirit, so that they cannot express their love to God as they would, and cannot be so active and lively in it as they desire. Often they would fain fly, but they are held down as with a dead weight upon their wings. Fain would they be active, and mount up as a flame of fire, but they find themselves, as it were, hampered and chained down, so that they cannot do as their love inclines them to do. Love disposes them to burst forth in praise, but their tongues are not obedient. They want words to express the ardency of their souls, and cannot order their speech by reason of darkness. Job 37.19 and often, for want of expressions, they are forced to content themselves with groanings that cannot be uttered. Romans 8.26 But in heaven they shall have no such hindrance. There they will have no dullness and unwieldiness, and no corruption of heart to war against divine love and hinder its expressions. and there no earthly body shall clog with its heaviness the heavenly flame. The saints in heaven shall have no difficulty in expressing all their love. Their souls being on fire with holy love shall not be like a fire pent up, but like a flame uncovered and at liberty. Their spirits, being winged with love, shall have no weight upon them to hinder their flight. There shall not be want of strength or activity, nor any want of words wherewith to praise the object of their affection. Nothing shall hinder them from communing with God, and praising and serving Him, just as their love inclines them to do. Love naturally desires to express itself. And in heaven, the love of the saints shall be at full liberty to express itself as it desires, whether it be towards God or to created beings. Four. In heaven, love will be expressed with perfect decency and wisdom. Many in this world that are sincere in their hearts, and have indeed a principle of true love to God and their neighbour, yet have not discretion to guide them in the manner and circumstances of expressing it. Their intentions and so their speeches are good. but often not suitably timed nor discreetly ordered as to circumstances, but are attended with an indiscreetness that greatly obscures the loveliness of grace in the eyes of others. But in heaven the amiableness and excellence of their love shall not be obscured by any such means. There shall be no indecent or unwise or dissonant speeches or actions, no foolish and sentimental fondness, no needless officiousness, no low or sinful propensities of passion, and no such a thing as affections clouding or deluding reason, or going before or against it. But wisdom and discretion shall be as perfect in the saints as love is, and every expression of their love shall be attended with the most amiable and perfect decency and discretion and wisdom. 5. There shall be nothing external in heaven to keep its inhabitants at a distance from each other, or to hinder their most perfect enjoyment of each other's love. There shall be no wall of separation in heaven to keep the saints asunder, nor shall they be hindered from the full and complete enjoyment of each other's love by distance of habitation, for they shall all be together as one family in their heavenly Father's house. Nor shall there be any want of full acquaintance to hinder the greatest possible intimacy, and much less shall there be any misunderstanding between them, or misinterpreting things that are said or done by each other. There shall be no disunion through difference of temper, or manners, or circumstances, or from various opinions, or interests, or feelings, or alliances. but all shall be united in the same interests, and all alike allied to the same Saviour, and all employed in the same business, serving and glorifying the same God. 6. In heaven all shall be united together in very near and dear relations. Love always seeks a near relation to the One who is beloved, and in heaven they shall all be nearly allied and related to each other. All shall be nearly related to God, the supreme object of their love, for they shall all be His children. And all shall be nearly related to Christ, for he shall be the head of the whole society, and the husband of the whole church of saints, all of whom together shall constitute his spouse. And they shall all be related to each other as brethren, for all will be but one society, or rather but one family, and all members of the household of God. And more than this, seven. In heaven all shall have property and ownership in each other. Love seeks to have the Beloved its own, and Divine Love rejoices in saying, My Beloved is Mine, and I am His. And in heaven all shall not only be related one to another, but they shall be each other's, and belong to each other. These saints shall be gods, He brings them home to Himself in glory as that part of the creation that He has chosen for His peculiar treasure. And, on the other hand, God shall be theirs, made over to them in an everlasting covenant in this world, and now they shall be forever in full possession of Him as their portion. And so the saints shall be Christ's, for he has bought them with a price, and he shall be theirs. For he that gave himself for them will have given himself to them, and in the bonds of mutual and everlasting love Christ and the saints will have given themselves to each other. And as God and Christ shall be the saints, so the angels shall be their angels, as is intimated in Matthew 18.10. And the saints shall be one another's. For the apostle speaks to Corinthians 8.5 of the saints in his days, as first giving themselves to the Lord, and then to one another by the will of God. And if this is done on earth, it will be more perfectly done in heaven. 8. In heaven they shall enjoy each other's love in perfect and uninterrupted prosperity. What often on earth allies the pleasure and sweetness of worldly pleasure is, that though persons live in love, yet they live in poverty, or meet with great difficulties and sore afflictions, whereby they are grieved for themselves and for one another. For, though in such cases love and friendship in some respects lighten the burden to be borne, yet in other respects they rather add to its weight, because those that love each other become, by their very love, sharers in each other's afflictions, so that each has not only his own trials to bear, but those also of his afflicted friends. But there shall be no adversity in heaven to give occasion for a pitiful grief of spirit, or to molest or disturb those who are heavenly friends in the enjoyment of each other's friendship. But they shall enjoy one another's love in the greatest prosperity, and in glorious riches and comfort, and in the highest honour and dignity, reigning together in the heavenly kingdom, inheriting all things, sitting on thrones, all wearing crowns of life, and being made kings and priests unto God for ever. Christ and his disciples, while on earth, were often together in affliction and trial, and they kept up and manifested the strongest love and friendship to each other under great and sore sufferings. And now in heaven they enjoy each other's love in immortal glory, all sorrow and sighing having forever fled away. Both Christ and His saints were acquainted with much sorrow and grief in this world, though Christ had the greatest share, being peculiarly a man of sorrows. But in heaven they shall sit together in heavenly places, where sorrow and grief shall nevermore be known. And so all the saints will enjoy each other's love in heaven, in a glory and prosperity in comparison, with which the wealth and thrones of the greatest earthly princes are but assorted poverty and destitution. So that, as they love one another, they have not only their own but each other's prosperity to rejoice in, and are by love made partakers of each other's blessedness and glory. Nine, in heaven all things shall conspire to promote their love and give advantage for mutual enjoyment. There shall be none there to tempt any to dislike or hatred. No busybodies or malicious adversaries to make misrepresentations or create misunderstandings. or spread abroad any evil reports, but every being and everything shall conspire to promote love and the full enjoyment of love. Heaven itself, the place of habitation, is a garden of pleasures, a heavenly paradise, fitted in all respects for an abode of heavenly love. a place where they may have sweet society and perfect enjoyment of each other's love. None are unsocial or distant from each other. The petty distinctions of this world do not draw lines in the society of heaven, but all meet in the equality of holiness and of holy love. 10. The inhabitants of heaven shall know that they shall forever be continued in the perfect enjoyment of each other's love. They shall know that God and Christ shall be forever with them as their God and portion, and that His love shall be continued and fully manifested forever. and that all their beloved fellow saints shall forever live with them in glory, and shall forever keep up the same love in their hearts which they now have. And they shall know that they themselves shall ever live to love God, and love the saints, and to enjoy their love in all its fullness and sweetness for ever. They shall be in no fear of any end to this happiness, or of any abatement from its fullness and blessedness, or that they will ever be weary of its exercises and expressions, or cloyed with its enjoyments, or that the beloved objects shall ever grow old or disagreeable, so that their love shall at last die away. all in heaven shall flourish in immortal youth and freshness. Age will not there diminish anyone's beauty or vigour, and their love shall abide in everyone's heart as a living spring perpetually springing up in the soul, or as a flame that never dies away, and the holy pleasure of this love shall be as a river that is forever flowing, clear and full, and increasing continually. The heavenly paradise of love shall always be kept as in a perpetual spring, without autumn or winter, where no frost shall blight, or leaves decay and fall, but where every plant shall be in perpetual freshness, and bloom, and fragrance, and beauty, always springing forth, and always blossoming, and always bearing fruit. The leaf of the righteous shall not wither. Psalm 1.3. and in the midst of the streets of heaven, and on either side of the river, grows the tree of life, which bears twelve manner of fruits, and yields her fruit every month." Revelation 22.2 Everything in the heavenly world shall contribute to the joy of the saints, and every joy of heaven shall be eternal. No night shall settle down with its darkness upon the brightness of their everlasting day. Having thus noticed many of the blessed circumstances with which love in heaven is exercised and expressed and enjoyed, I proceed to speak, lastly, six, of the blessed effects and fruits of this love as exercised and enjoyed in these circumstances. And of the many blessed fruits of it, I would at this time mention but two. One, the most excellent and perfect behavior of all the inhabitants of heaven towards God and each other. Divine love is the sum of all good principles, and therefore the fountain whence proceed all amiable and excellent actions. And as in heaven this love will be perfect, to the perfect exclusion of all sin, consisting in enmity against God and fellow-creatures, so the fruit of it will be a most perfect behaviour towards all. Hence, life in heaven will be without the least sinful failure or error. None shall ever come short or turn aside from the way of holiness in the least degree, but every feeling and action shall be perfect in itself and in all its circumstances. Every part of their behaviour shall be holy and divine in matter and form and spirit and end. We know not particularly how the saints in heaven shall be employed, but, in general, we know that they are employed in praising and serving God, and this they will do perfectly, being influenced by such a love as we have been considering. And we have reason to think that they are so employed as in some way to be subservient, under God, to each other's happiness. For they are represented in the Scriptures as united together in one society, which, it would seem, can be for no other purpose but mutual subserviency and happiness. and they are thus mutually subservient by a perfectly amiable behaviour one towards another, as a fruit of their perfect love one to another. And even if they are not confined to this society, But if any or all of them are, at times, sent errands of duty or mercy to distant worlds, or employed, as some suppose them to be, as ministering spirits to friends in this world, They are still led by the influence of love to conduct in all their behavior in such a manner as is well-pleasing to God, and thus conducive to their own and others' happiness. This is the end of part one. Still Waters Revival Books is now located at PuritanDownloads.com. It's your worldwide, online Reformation home for the very best in free and discounted classic and contemporary Puritan and Reformed books, MP3s, and videos. 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